She survived drugs and decadence with the Stones and the ‘horrible job’ of being a muse to become a celebrated singer. But as she curates a new Tate exhibition, she says she has no regrets

Marianne Faithfull has been under the weather: “I blew my voice out at a
Rolling Stones tribute concert at Carnegie Hall during Sister Morphine,”
she explains. “I got overexcited and sang too loud.” Subsequent gigs in
Belgium and Poland prompted a nasty bout of bronchitis. In the days running
up to our meeting, the e-mails from her manager, a man called François
Ravard, had not sounded promising. He stressed that the 65-year-old was
under strict doctor’s orders to rest and that the interview may have to be
cancelled.

Sufficient recovery has been made, however, and today Faithfull is on the